Dad Wants Insurance Company to Foot the Bill for Daughter's Wayward Behavior

Daddies, it seems, can forgive their little girls for just about anything — especially when there's an insurance company to fall back on.

That seems to be the case of a Marietta, Ga., father who not only was willing to forgive his then 19-year-old daughter for leading police on a high-speed chase while she was high on drugs, but also figured she wasn't responsible when cops were forced to smash in the car's windows to make an arrest.

That was in 2003, but now Michael Natbony wants someone to compensate him for repairs to his car — and, of course, it's not going to be his daughter, Jennifer.

Natbony wants his insurance company to foot the $12,612 repair to his Lexus SUV, according to a lawsuit filed by his attorney Robert S. Windholz. A trial in Fulton County State Court is tentatively scheduled for next week.

Attorney Steven J. Angles, who represents Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., claimed in court documents that the insurance company isn't responsible for "lawful damages"; in other words, for the pounding the car took when the cops rammed it. The Natbonys have declined to comment.

J.E. Van Alstine, the Cobb County officer who chased and ultimately stopped the Lexus, laughed that the girl's father would sue over an incident caused by her wild ways.

He remembers that Jennifer Natbony had pushed the Lexus to speeds past 100 mph and turned off her lights during the 5 a.m. chase. And though there wasn't much traffic, she was speeding and going the wrong way on a one-way street when she passed Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where there could have been a shift change or ambulance en route, the officer said.

"The chase was certainly worthy of something more than probation," Van Alstine said Thursday when he learned of Natbony's sentence. "I thought she did some time."

If the insurance company and the Natbonys can't reach a settlement, a Fulton County jury will have to decide who should pay for the damage.